Ready, Fire, Aim…Oops!
Are you targeting your marketing and promotion efforts effectively, or just randomly firing off ideas as they come to you? Marketing is always most effective when it is targeted-- to get the best results, you have to know who you are trying to reach.
Think about your own patterns: Don’t you like to buy something that seems as though it was made for you? So does everyone else. Yes, there is generic shampoo, but there are also shampoos made for every type of hair imaginable. Consumers who buy the generic are buying because price is important to them. Others will buy the anti-dandruff, body building, herbal shampoo for color-treated hair that seems as though it was made especially for them.
READY: Know who your customers are and what you do for them. If you say “anyone” could be your customer, narrow your focus. Often, because we don’t want to eliminate anyone as a potential customer, marketing efforts can be vague and unfocused. People don’t buy vague and unfocused products. They buy specific benefits.
The more you know about who your products serve, the better you can sell to them. Imagine your “typical” customer. Are they male or female? What age? Where do they live? Where do they work? What do they do for a living? What church do they attend?
Do they have children? How many, what ages? Pets? What do they drive? What are their hobbies? How much money do they earn? (Of course, if you sell to businesses, your questions would be different.) Some of the questions above may not be relevant to your business, so look at the ones that are, and make up others about what your customers have in common.
What is important to your customers? Immediate delivery? Twenty-four hour access? Privacy? Simplicity? Credit or time- payments? Quality? Price? Convenience? Service? What do they need and how can you fill those needs?
Now that you know who they are and what they want and need, craft a message that speaks to their needs in language they understand. Study advertising to see how other businesses do it. When you see an ad, ask “Who are they trying to reach with this?” and “What is the message?” Use what you learn in creating your communications with customers.
AIM: Now that you know who your customers are, figure out where they are. What newspapers, magazines and other publications do they read? That’s where you should focus your advertising and publicity. Likewise, knowing what websites they visit, what email discussion groups they subscribe to, and what newsgroups they read will help you target web promotions.
Look for other ways to reach them: To what clubs do they belong? Where do they shop? What route do they drive to work? How do they spend their free time? Do they live in common neighborhoods? Could you rent a mailing list based on the characteristics your customers have in common?
Plan a campaign using as many methods as you can afford and effectively target.
FIRE: Put your plan into action. Use many different methods to reach customers with your message, and keep refining and re-sending your message. It will probably take multiple exposures before most customers act.
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